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September 27, 2002

Dear Subscribers:

Here's our lineup for this final week of September:


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Family Tech: Dewie the turtle & home cybersecurity

Following in the footsteps of great campaigners like Smokey the Bear, Federal Trade Commission spokesturtle Dewie launched his cybersecurity ed campaign this week. Actually, Dewie (see him here) wasn't available, so we talked to his personal aide and spokesperson, FTC Commissioner Orson Swindle. "I'm an old Marine fighter pilot," the commissioner told us, "and there's no better aide to a general than a Marine aide, so I'm his Marine aide right now."

He's got a great sense of humor but, on more serious matters, our conversation did a good job of clarifying exactly what a connected home computer has to do with national (and international) security. "Your kid is sitting at home on a computer that I've been told repeatedly is more powerful than some of the computers in the space shuttle, and you have a broadband connection," Commissioner Swindle said. "That computer is part of a network; it literally ties you directly into the Internet, made up of all these networks linked together one way or another" - networks like the power grid of the state of California, the Pentagon's, and those of global financial markets. "The Internet has become a critical part of the global infrastructure," he added. [According to the latest Commerce Department figures, about 10% of US households have high-speed Net access, Wired News reports. Half of all Americans are connected at home (that's dial-up plus high-speed access).]

So the new reality is...

  1. Each home computer with a high-speed connection - including those used by very young Netizens - is literally part of an infrastructure that undergirds people's everyday life and livelihood worldwide.
  2. Home PC security affects infrastructure security, and vice versa.

How? Because connected home PCs without firewalls, virus protection, etc. are available as virus carriers, file sharers and storers, and parties to denial-of-service attacks. They can be manipulated by hackers with malicious intentions, as a ZDNet reporter and one-time skeptic pointed out this week: "Cyberattacks," he writes in a piece about what changed his mind, "are already part of modern warfare. In the past two years, malicious users on both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict have deployed viruses and worms, inundated government sites with huge amounts of e-mail, and launched distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on e-commerce sites. As part of the Kashmir conflict, an Indian-authored worm, Yaha, created a DDoS attack on the main Pakistani government Web site earlier this year."

What's needed most, Commissioner Swindle suggested, is some simple precautions becoming as second-nature as looking both ways when we cross the street. "We've gotten so far out ahead of good security practices," he said. "Buckling seatbelts, washing hands, getting inoculations - these are all habit patterns, and that's what we need to do with computers and information systems and networks. They are wonderful tools that bring us yet-unmeasured benefits, but there are vulnerabilities associated with them. We are aiming this message literally at everybody."

He mentioned a Sept. 12, 2001, meeting of the 30-member Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development he attended in Japan. "We said we all ought to look at our security guidelines and get them revised in light of what just happened [on 9/11]. I was on the committee that hammered out a revision that was released in late July - nine principles that appeal to OECD nations and non-member nations around the world. This effort is going to be joined by other nations doing it their own way.

"We're trying to convey this sense of urgency and importance," the commissioner continued. "It's not just you getting on eBay and ordering posters. It's a big world, we're all linked together, but we can cause harm to others and they to us."

Which takes us back to the very wired Dewie, who "carries his security shell no matter what he's doing on the Internet," according to his Web site at the FTC. Here are Dewie's eight tips for securing a family computer (dial-up) and 10 specifically for broadband. He attains uncharacteristic speed as a surfer: Here's his quiz for kids, "Are You a Safe Cyber Surfer?".

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A subscriber writes: Yes to filtering at school

In response to "Schools, parents, students against filtering" in last week's issue, educator Karen in California emailed us:

"I have been a teacher for 25 years - the past four years I have been the Computer Resource Teacher and Tech Coordinator.

"We use filtering at our school (from SmartStuff). Yes, at times the filter can be too restrictive, but it is easy for an administrator to exempt approved sites that have been blocked. I instruct the students (K-8) on Internet safety for both school and home use. But I feel that it is also our duty to protect children. The level of pornography and violence that is displayed on the Internet, and the targeting of children by unscrupulous pornographers can have traumatic effects on children. Children (and adults) should not be exposed to these images and locked into a Website simply by misspelling a URL. Without filtering, children are bombarded with unsolicited, extreme pornography. Simply telling children to avoid these sites or get a parent when confronted with these images is not enough. The damage has already been done if children view some of these Web sites.

"Most of my junior high school students admit that they know more about the Internet, chat rooms, instant messaging, etc. than their parents - and I teach at an affluent, well-educated area school. Parents need to have more control over their children's use of the Internet, but I don't think this is ever going to happen. Many parents don't have the time or the inclination to oversee their child's Internet use. They don't understand the dangers, and are too trusting of their children. Most of my junior high school students have 'free rein' on the Internet and spend hours in the evening in chat rooms or IM-ing....

"I've heard too many stories from students, parents, and teachers concerning unsolicited exposure to the extreme pornography that is out there. I am also concerned about exposing students to the Web sites that are authored by hate groups or extremists. Public libraries protect children and adults from publications of this type; I don't understand why librarians are opposed to using the same protections online.

"BTW, instant messaging and/or chat rooms have made it easy for students to spread rumors and lies about other students. Many parents have complained to me about the wasted time and disruptions these activities have caused in their homes. Students use the excuse that they need to use the Internet to do homework, but they are really staying online to contact their friends. Many parents don't seem to be aware of what their children are doing (and saying) in these chat rooms. Some students seem to be 'addicted' to staying connected."

Readers, we always appreciate getting your perspectives on issues like this. To respond to Karen's comment or to comment on any other online-safety issue, email us anytime, via feedback@netfamilynews.org.

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Web News Briefs

  1. Filtering: UK parents unimpressed

    Filtering technology is not popular among parents in the United Kingdom. While 70% surveyed last year said they monitor their children's Internet use, less than a third (32%) said they use filtering technology, reports TheRegister.com. Sixty-two percent of the 32% who do use filtering products thought they were effective; 11% thought they blocked too little. Overall, "most parents felt that the current technical tools available for controlling their children's use of the Internet were too complex to install and lacked simple age categorisation," The Register added. "They wanted simple labelling and easy to use filtering systems". The survey, conducted by the BBC, the Broadcasting Standards Commission, and the Independent Television Commission, concluded that "the Internet as a medium raises more concerns and uncertainties than television for parents monitoring their children's media consumption."

  2. ISP blocks US access to child porn

    US Internet service provider WorldCom this week agreed to block US access to five alleged child-porn sites based outside the country - because some of its subscribers are residents of Pennsylvania. The move appears to be an unprecedented action that illustrates the power of a state law and "raises jurisdictional issues on the Web." According to CNET, "The case stems from a Pennsylvania law enacted earlier this year that says an ISP must block child porn sites 'accessible through its service in a manner accessible to persons located within this commonwealth within five business days' after being notified by the attorney general." One of the non-US site hosts is Spain-based Terra.es, a division of Terra Lycos. The sites are blocked only for WorldCom customers, but they represented about 30% of US Net traffic last year, and WorldCom is not the only ISP affected by the law.

  3. 'Internet English'

    Call it instant-messaging creep: the way terms like "ur," "b4," "wuz," "cuz" are multiplying in high school English papers. Teachers say many students don't know the difference between conversational and formal writing, the New York Times reports in "Nu Shortcuts in School R 2 Much 4 Teachers". But they'll be hard-pressed to buck this trend, with almost 60% of the under-17 online population now using instant messaging. "In addition to cell phone text messaging, Weblogs and e-mail, it has become a popular means of flirting, setting up dates, asking for help with homework and keeping in contact with distant friends. The abbreviations are a natural outgrowth of this rapid-fire style of communication." After all, teenagers have always pushed the boundaries of spoken language, the Times points out - now they're just making their mark on the written part, where - to them - "expressions like 'oic' (oh I see), 'nm' (not much), 'jk' (just kidding) ... 'brb' (be right back), and 'ttyl' (talk to you later) are as standard as conventional English."

  4. Japan: Automating child-porn detection

    Japan's National Police Agency has set up an automated system for finding child pornography on the Internet, the Japan Times reports. With it, a computer periodically checks sites for child pornography and cross-checks their images against the agency's database of images. "For its first catch ... the system traced a 20-year-old vocational school student in Saitama Prefecture who published child pornography images on his Web site," the Japan Times reported. The man was arrested on charges of violating Japan's law against prostitution involving minors. The Times added that the NPA's automated system can also trace images from overseas. The agency has already worked with Australian authorities concerning photos posted from there in an Internet newsgroup.

  5. University bans student site's links

    Students at University of California, San Diego, have been ordered to delete links to an alleged terrorist site, CNET reports. Citing the new USA Patriot Act, the school has told a student organization called the Che Cafe Collective that linking from its mostly anarchist Web site to a site supporting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is not permitted because doing so violates federal law. FARC is on the State Department's list of 34 terrorist organizations because it has "kidnapped and murdered US citizens," CNET adds. The school took this action "pro-actively" in case the US government "decided to pay attention to this matter." The university's action is being criticized for being "overbroad" and a threat to free speech.

  6. MIT for free

    Having long looked at how best to do online learning, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has decided to make its own version free. You heard right. Instead of commercializing distance learning, as so many other universities have done (and not very successfully), MIT is taking a different tack with OpenCourseWare, the BBC reports. The first set of courses - in anthropology, biology, chemistry and computer science - are set to start Monday (9/30). "Over the next 10 years, MIT will move all its existing coursework on to the Internet," according to the BBC, "available to anyone around the globe at no cost." The only catch is, taking them will not lead to free degrees. MIT is not giving those away!

  7. Jon Bon Jovi's good idea

    The rock musician's idea is to reduce online piracy by making file-sharing fans feel they're missing out if they don't buy his CD. Here's how it works, according to Wired News: "On the inside of the packaging of Bon Jovi's Bounce is a 13-digit, randomly generated serial number. By entering that code on the group's Web site, fans enroll in a program that puts them 'first in line' for concert tickets and allows them to listen to unreleased tracks from the band." The rest of the piece describes the process hackers could work through to crack the serial number, but it's "a pretty cumbersome process," considering it's all about priority concert-ticket purchasing. What's interesting here, as the BBC points out, is the possibility of creative, positive solutions to piracy - rather than heavy-handed litigation on the record companies' part. For context, here's a thorough New York Times update on another rutty road record companies have tried: online music services, and the legal complications of getting them off the ground.

    Meanwhile, this week the recording industry launched another salvo against online piracy: a multibillion-dollar ad campaign "to drive home one simple message: Downloading music is bad," Wired News reports. The first full-page ads appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Roll Call.

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That does it for this week. Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Anne Collier, Editor

Net Family News

 

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